Magnum Rolle

3rd: - Maine Red Claws - Magnum Rolle, Louisiana Tech

Try as they might, Indiana couldn't find a roster spot for Rolle, so he comes to the D-League to earn a pay packet that's only just over half of the $50,000 guaranteed that he left Indiana with. Rolle wasn't allocated to Indiana's affiliate, the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, who instead have Bucks camp cuts Chris Kramer, Billy Rush and Tory Jackson as their assigned players. So Rolle now joins the Red Claws, affiliate of both the Celtics and the Bobcats. While this ultimately doesn't change anything - he can still sign with whichever NBA team he so chooses, and always could - Maine isn't close to Indiana. So it doesn't help the Pacers that much.

Rolle has been covered a few times in the last few months, the most recent of which was in part 2 of the NBA training camp battle round-up thing. He didn't play well in his limited preseason minutes, yet this didn't change Indiana's opinion of him. They sought to keep him. Unfortunately for Magnum, they didn't seek to keep him enough, and decided to cut him instead of the guaranteed contract of Solomon Jones. Solomon could now repay them by starting to rebound the ball again.

Rolle's draft rights were acquired by the Pacers for those of Ryan Reid. He immediately impressed in summer league, averaging 13.4 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks, shooting 57% from the floor. The Pacers have every intention of having him on their roster, and always have. However, that's easier said than done. Solomon Jones, signed last season with the Bi Annual Exception, occupies both Rolle's role and Rolle's roster spot. In all honesty, the Pacers need someone like Rolle rather badly; they ranked 29th in rebound differential last season, ahead of only the Warriors (who were last by MILES), and yet they just traded away Troy Murphy, their only good rebounder last year. Rolle - and to a lesser extent, Allred - can help to fill that void, as will the returning Jeff Foster and Tyler Hansbrough. But even though he used to be a good rebounder, Jones certainly wasn't one last year, sporting a total rebounding percentage of only 11.6%. Starting centre Roy Hibbert is also particularly bad at it (12.4% from a 7'2 centre), and no wing players or guards chip in with any decent percentages. Therefore, sans Murphy, Indiana figures to struggle once again in the rebounding department, maybe even being the worst rebounding team in the league now that the Warriors have built a more conventional roster. It all looks good for Rolle's chances, then.

Magnum Rolle

By the time Solomon Jones's rather unnecessary two year contract expires, Magnum Rolle will be 25 years old. Despite how much we might want to believe otherwise, not many players improve after that age, and those that do don't do so by much. Rolle wants to win rookie of the year - mercifully aware that making the roster is a more pressing concern - but the question of whether he is talented enough to make the team is a much more pressing concern. His athleticism and shot blocking instincts are in place, but that's about it. At age 24, that's a worry. The question, now, is whether he already has enough defense to make it. He might.

Sexilver also announces that Oklahoma City have drafted Magnum Rolle, an athletic forward out of Louisiana Tech, with the 51st pick. Rolle is OK, but many better players exist in this draft pool, including most of the names I have already mentioned. Rather than taking one of them, though, Oklahoma City have taken a fifth year senior whom Latavious Williams will resemble if he doesn't develop for the next four years. It's a strange choice.

Magnum Rolle is quite obviously the best name of the draft, if not the best name of the decade. Unlike previous years, there's not enough ammunition for an all-porno-name starting five this season, but with a name like Magnum Rolle in the mix, one is no longer needed. I just wish UCLA's Michael Roll was more athletic, so that he could be here too.